Russ Webb with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife explains the workings of the gates of the newly repaired outflow structure on one of the canals at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. (Steve Bisson, Savannah Morning News)

In the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, a decades-old water control structure that broke down just a few years after it was installed is finally operating the way it was designed.

The completion of the repairs near the south end of the refuge, part of a $12.5 million Army Corps of Engineers project, allowed the popular wildlife drive to re-open in late July after a more than year-long shutdown. When the rest of the project is completed in October, refuge managers say they’ll be able to better manipulate about 6,000 acres of wetlands for the benefit of wildlife.

The water-control structures that are being retrofitted — 17 in all — were built into the refuge’s old rice fields by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1970s as part of a project that deepened the nearby Savannah River to 38 feet. When unexpectedly salty water flowing in from the Back River immediately began to corrode the gates, Fish and Wildlife looked to the corps to repair them. The corps said maintenance was Fish and Wildlife’s job. The stalemate was broken after the then-director of the wildlife service, the late Sam Hamilton, indicated the delayed repair was souring his agency on even considering the approval of a current proposal to deepen the harbor to up to 48 feet.

That was in late 2008. The repair work began in June last year, about five months ahead of the public release of the draft harbor deepening documents.

Corps officials have maintained that while they were aware of that threat to the politically sensitive harbor project, it wasn’t their main motivation to make the repairs.

INFINITE CONTROL

Refuge Manager Russ Webb and his staff intensely manage the refuge’s impoundments to provide food, cover and rest for waterfowl and migratory birds. A nine-mile canal allows water from the Back River to be diverted into the refuge. Gates along the canal are supposed to allow Webb to manipulate the water level in the 18 impoundments to allow crops like wild rice to grow or to flood out weeds.

But before the repairs, Webb was able only to fully open or fully close the gates, and even that required heavy equipment and at least three people. Now one person can do it alone, and with a lot more finesse.

“It was all or nothing management,” Webb said. “Now it’s a threaded rod with infinite control.”

The gates’ new stainless steel and titanium parts are designed to last at least 50 years, though he expects them to last longer.

Savannah District Commander Col. Jeff Hall sounded satisfied with the work, too, which was completed by contractor SES out of Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“The new, custom-built structures will ensure adequate fresh water enters the refuge from the Savannah River and are much easier to operate and maintain than the previous design,” he said in a prepared statement. “We appreciate the assistance and patience of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff while we completed this complex and important work.”

THE NEXT DEEPENING

The history of the diversion canal may provide a lesson for the next harbor deepening.

Dave Kyler, executive director of the Center for a Sustainable Coast, thinks so. He and other environmentalists have successfully advocated for a process called adaptive management, essentially ongoing changes to the deepening’s mitigation plans to keep safeguarding the refuge and other habitats even if things don’t work as predicted.

“Those kinds of egregious, flagrant deviations from the management of the project are why I developed this (adaptive management) memo in the first place,” Kyler said.

Corps officials say it’s unfair to hold up this long-delayed repair as an example of what could happen with the next harbor deepening. The canal and its gates were constructed at a time when the agencies made agreements over a handshake. Years later it was hard to know who was responsible for what. But they, too, point to adaptive management as the solution.

“With the freshwater diversion structures we needed to sort out responsibilities, sign the memorandum of understanding and pinpoint the authority to make the repairs,” said spokesman Billy Birdwell. “With the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, adaptive management is incorporated as part of the deepening project.”

But Jane Griess, project leader Savannah Coastal Refuges, points out that the adaptive management process itself could be informed by the saga of the canal.

“It’s the old devil’s in detail,” Griess said. “Everything has to be very clear. In my mind if there’s adaptive management for the duration of the plan you have to say what triggers are there to say it’s not working. That’s a gray area. You have to say how frequently you meet. Is there system in place to respond quickly, not three years later?”

And maybe most importantly you have to provide a mechanism to fund it.

“If we had stuff failing now we’d probably never get funding for it,” she said.

STILL IN TRANSITION

The refuge is a great place for locals to take out-of-town visitors anxious to see alligators sunning themselves on a dike or slinking through the water. It’s also a favorite destination of birders and fishermen as well as wildlife photographers, many of whom have been impatient to see the drive open again.

They should be aware that the refuge is not yet back to normal, officials warned. “Everything’s not 100 percent yet,” Harris said. “It has to heal.”

Water in the canal’s southern end is the color of chocolate milk — tons of earth were moved in the construction process — and will remain murkier than usual until all the repairs are finished and it can be flushed out.

As Webb and Harris watched on a recent morning, a fisherman in a jon boat in one of the many pools along the drive pulled up a gar, not the most desirable fish. But Webb called out to the fishermen and his companion and they held up two earlier catches of large mouth bass, which Webb took as a good sign.

Along the wildlife drive, visitors will also see stands of dead trees. Some are in oak hammocks and seem to be the result of high salinity in the ground water, which may be related to the construction.

“We don’t know if it’s because of the drought or because of lowered water levels,” said Monica Harris, supervisory refuge ranger.

Other dead trees, the Chinese tallow, are a different story. They’re an invasive species the refuge biologists are actively trying to kill off to allow native plants to flourish. “It looks bad, but it’s incredibly good,” Griess said. “From a biological standpoint it’s beautiful.”

The north side of the refuge is expected to open in October when the repairs there are finished. At that point refuge managers will have full control over the freshwater supply.

IF YOU GO

The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center is located on U.S. 17 in Jasper County, S.C., about six miles north of downtown Savannah. The Visitor Center is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Other areas of the refuge are open to wildlife-dependent recreation activities during daylight hours, seven days a week. Please consult with refuge staff at the Visitor Center prior to visiting for information on what areas are open and what kinds of activities are permitted.

Comments are welcome, so long as they are civil. A Facebook account is required. Abuse may result in the commenter being permanently blocked. Personal attacks are strictly prohibited. We reserve the right to remove any comments at any time.